Fall TV Preview: 5 Things to Know About Season 2 of ‘Revolution’

The East Coast of the United States is in rubble when “Revolution” returns for Season 2 on Wednesday, Sept. 25 at 8/7c on NBC, as a result of a missile launch from the Tower by Randall Flynn (Colm Feore), targeting Philadelphia and Atlanta.

The story picks up six months after the bombing and our band of rebels is no longer united. The powerful emotions caused by the missile launch has split them apart, but there will be flashbacks to fill viewers in on some of what has happened during that time period.

Miles (Billy Burke), Rachel (Elizabeth Mitchell) and Aaron (Zak Ork) are now based in Rachel’s hometown of Willougyby, Texas, where we meet her father Dr. Gene Porter (Stephen Colins). Charlie (Tracy Spiridakos) has taken off on a journey of her own, as has Monroe (David Lyons). The Nevilles — Tom (Giancarlo Esposito) and Jason (JD Pardo) — are searching with diminishing hope for Julia Neville (Kim Raver), who was waiting in Atlanta for her husband and son to return from their mission.

“I loved the road show, but it didn’t allow you to have characters that you really got to understand, unveil and have twists,” says creator/executive producer Eric Kripke. “Having some of the characters in one location for a number of episodes oddly has really been invigorating for the show.”

“Revolution,” which formerly shot in North Carolina and relocated to Texas for Season 2, moves to a new day and time for its second season, and Kripke promises that the move to 8 p.m. on Wednesdays will not change the tone of the show — if anything, it is darker. What will change is the storylines will be more involved, as he feels that Season 1′s stories were too simple.

In addition to Kripke, xfinityTV spoke to several members of the cast. Here are five things they revealed about Season 2 that you will want to know before tuning in:

1. New Mysteries. According to Kripke, if last season was about war, this season is more about mysteries. And they will come in two forms.

First, there are the conspiracy mysteries. At the end of Season 1, we saw the president of the United States safely ensconced in Guantanamo Bay. This season, a mystery ship, claiming to be representatives of the president, sails onto the scene. Are these people really from the president, or is something else afoot? Also, why haven’t they returned prior to the missile attack?

Kripke says, “I want to ask questions like: What is America? Who deserves to decide what the future of America will be? Is there a God? What happens when you feel destiny close in on you?”

Then there are the changes that were made to the laws of physics by the nanotechnology, resulting from the events at the tower.

“Something really went wrong and because of the laws of nanotech, it really changed the laws of physics,” Kripke says. “This stuff is malfunctioning. That is one of our mysteries this season. What did it do? What did they change? How is it affecting our heroes? It becomes this interesting notion in ways they don’t even quite understand yet. They changed the laws of reality.”

Get a First Look at Season 2 of “Revolution”:

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2. New Bad Guys — Civilization vs. Savagery. In addition to the mysterious people onboard the ship claiming to be representatives of the United States, we will also meet some new villains this season in the form of a warlord and his band of savages.

“We have this wonderful new warlord played by Matt Ross, who is the creepiest warlord,” Kripke says. “His backstory is he was headmaster of a boys school when the blackout happened. He was left with 200 kids, 1000 miles from their homes, and he raises them Lord of the Flies-style.”

In the premiere, they begin their attack against more civilized areas — causing the surprising death of one of our series regulars.

"Revolution" (Photo: NBC)

3. Miles/Rachel/Aaron. As previously mentioned, this trio has relocated to Rachel’s hometown. Rachel was so distraught by being unable to prevent Randall from launching the missiles that Miles didn’t know what else to do with her, but to take her home.

There we meet her dad Gene, the doctor, and Willoughby’s sheriff, played by Adam Beach. Gene encourages Miles to leave, a suggestion Miles is happy to act upon, because as he tells Rachel, “Bad things happen when we’re together.”

“Miles again finds himself in a place he doesn’t want to be, trying to get out and avoid the love he is feeling,” Burke says. “I don’t think there has ever been a time he hasn’t wanted to go back to Chicago. He has been carrying this backpack around, in a metaphorical sense, that keeps getting heavier. It keeps getting heavier because he is feeling more for these people that he never wanted to be around in the first place.”

4. Charlie and Monroe. There were a lot of hurt feelings between Charlie and her mother, especially at the Tower, so while Miles tries to convince Charlie to stay with them and try to repair the damage, Charlie decides to take off on her own. She feels that too much has happened and she needs some time and space before there can be any healing.

Of course, her other goal is to find and kill Monroe. She blames him for so much of what happened, especially the death of her brother, that her focus is on putting an end to him.

“At the beginning, she was all about family,” Spiridakos says. “But so much has happened that now she doesn’t know where her morals lie. What decision is right? What decision is wrong? She is just emotionally shut down. I don’t know what will happen if she interacts with Monroe. I can’t see it going very well, honestly.”

So where is Monroe? Now that the missiles have ended the Monroe Republic, Monroe is out on his own, roaming the country — in the premiere, he is around the Colorado area — and discovering the only luck he has left is bad.

Now, instead of being a leader of men, Monroe — using an alias — is getting by, fighting nightly at a whorehouse to earn his keep.

“Monroe has a big sense of relief that he is no longer at the top of the tree,” says Lyons. But even as he seems to be aimlessly wandering, in the back of his mind is the thought that he wants to find his son — and that Charlie wants to see him 6-feet under.

“We know that Charlie has gone rogue and she wants my blood,” he says. “We will see if she gets a little bit of it.”

Catch-up on the First-Season Finale of “Revolution” Now Before the New Season Begins:

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5. Tom and Jason Neville. Neville and Jason have been wandering the country, trying to find Julia. Neville is in despair, having lost the love of his life, but Jason tries to snap him out of it.

“Tom is just trying to survive and deal with the loss of many, many people,” Esposito says. “Being a soldier, he can do the math as to how many are going to be lost and what it will take for the survivors to reinforce themselves to come back, but there are no guarantees because he has no power, no food, no resources. He is still at odds with his son, who he had hopes he could groom to trust, because he needs men he can trust. He is on his own, as are all the characters when we come back. There are no sides anymore. There is just survival.”

As for Jason, Pardo says he has come a long way in learning to accept his father for who he is, and in so doing, it has also freed him to follow his own path.

“When you can accept your parents for who they are, then you don’t have to live up to them anymore,” he says. “You don’t have to give up your power to them. You understand, ‘This is my dad. This is his way, it’s not my way, but he’s all I have.’ With that, comes a confidence he can become his own man.”

“Revolution” premieres its second season on Wednesday, Sept. 25 at 8/7c on NBC.